Lot owner responds
The Tribune Herald has again written about the lot I own in downtown Hilo (“County steps up action against homeless camp’s landowner,” May 15).
They are backing the county in its presumption that I have no right to private property as protected by the Hawaiian Kingdom, which is still extant despite the incursion of the United States corporation on to this sacred land.
Please write to the paper to let them know that lies told by (Hilo Farmers Market owner) Mr. Keith De La Cruz that the people who have a relation to the kingdom are trashing his land are not only untrue, but probably come as a means for him to get his own problems with the county excused by aligning himself with them, against me.
I, being a responsible person, remove any trash that comes to be on my lot every week.
The poem I wrote was misinterpreted by the Tribune-Herald reporter, whose corporate use of language prevents him from understanding poetry.
The poem is:
People lead
contained lives
locked cages
contrast keys
to enter &leave
boxes worked
for —as the poor
swept away
by cops collapsing
boxes as waves, obey
tide of opinion
annoyed some
dare to be
SO IN THE WAY.
Reporter Michael Brestovansky thinks this poem is a condemnation of modern society, even though the picture accompanying it shows a castle, Trump Tower, a house with garage and picket fence, as well as a cave, a teepee, a tent, a wikiup, a pagoda and more living spaces, as well as a box with “refrigerator” written on it.
The poem is about the opinion that would destroy a habitat of a person considered “in the way.”
I would hope that letters to the editor would express opinions that would negate the notion that humans are a problem because they exist. Where does the opinion arise that some people are unnecessary and a nuisance because they are alive?
There are many other lies in the article, but what I consider most important is how human beings are considered by some who deem themselves authorities.
Jeri Rose
Papaikou
‘Trial period’ for gambling
Kudos to letters to the editor contributor Darrel Brown, suggesting that Hawaii need legalized gambling.
The money generated could go toward badly needed funding for our public school system, infrastructure improvements, and especially repairing our Second- and Third World-like roadways.
Only two U.S. states are without any form of legalize gambling, Hawaii and Utah. Let’s do a six- to 12-month pilot project, beginning with a lottery program.
At the end of the trial period, if it fails to work, then trash the idea. Las Vegas is the gambling capital of the world. But why give money to another state when the money could be invested here in Hawaii?
Rick LaMontagne
Hilo